A manual transmission relating to a known art is operated in a manner where a gear engagement is switched by means of a shift operation and a select operation executed by a driver in order to achieve an appropriate shift stage. A shift lever apparatus related to the known art illustrated in FIG. 6 includes a shift lever 2 comprised of a stick portion 22 arranged so as to extend in an approximate vertical direction, arm portions 211 each formed so as to extend in a direction that is perpendicular to the stick portion 22, and a pivot portion 21 formed at a point where the stick portion 22 crosses the arm portion 211. In this configuration, the shift lever 2 is operated by the driver so as to pivot relative to the pivot portion 21.
Specifically, the shift lever 2 is normally located at a neutral position at which an axial direction of the stick portion 22 is maintained in a vertical direction, and the select operation of the shift lever 2 is executed from the neutral position thereof. Further, the shift lever 2 normally has a select return function by which the shift lever 2 can be returned to the neutral position from any positions after the select operation.
In addition to the select return function, the shift lever apparatus illustrated in FIG. 6 further includes two positioning members each having a spring by which the shift lever 2 is maintained at the neutral position. Specifically, each positioning member is positioned so as to engage each arm portion, and the spring of each positioning member applies a biasing force to the arm portion so as to move upward.
In this configuration, however, the shift lever apparatus may vibrate due to vibrations generated at the manual transmission or at an engine, and the shift lever 2 may vibrate accordingly. Because the shift lever 2 vibrates, the shift lever 2 may not be set to the neutral position appropriately, or the vibration may be transmitted to the driver, so that a level of shift feeling may be decreased.
The shift lever 2 may not vibrate by arranging the positioning members so as not to engage the arm portion 211 or by setting a spring constant of the spring provided at each positioning member so that the vibrations of the transmission or the engine may not be transmitted to the shift lever 2.
In either way, however, the neutral position of the shift lever 2 is still not set stably.
A need thus exists for a shift lever apparatus which is not susceptible to the drawback mentioned above.